The arrival of a new class of treatment, direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) is a therapeutic revolution for treating hepatitis C. On the other hand, their astronomical costs exclude too many patients according to Médecin du Monde.
Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) is a new oral drug from pharmaceutical giant Gilead indicated for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and authorized in the US and Europe. This direct-acting antiviral (DAA) precedes many other DAAs currently in development and soon on the market. Simeprevir (Janssen-Cilag, a subsidiary of the American Johnson & Johnson, authorized in the United States) which has just received a European green light and Daclatasvir (from the American group Bristol-Myers Squibb), whose marketing requests are in progress. Classes. A therapeutic revolutionfor the 170 million chronic carriers of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Except for the poorest who will not be able to access these treatments.
Excessively expensive treatment
“Thanks to these treatments, in particular Sofosbuvir and Simeprevir, we will be able to cure more than 90% of severe hepatitis C patients! It is therefore the hope of a cure that comes with these new treatments ”explains Prof. Victor de Lédinghen, secretary of the French Association for the Study of the Liver (AFEF). But these very effective treatments are also extremely expensive.
A sofosbuvir tablet is billed at $ 1,000 in the United States, or $ 84,000 (approximately 60,000 euros) for the recommended 12 weeks of treatment. In France, sofosbuvir is available at a cost of 56,000 euros (666 euros per tablet) for a 12-week treatment.
“But sofosbuvir and the other DAAs coming soon aren’t supposed to be that expensive. They can be produced in generic form for a tiny fraction of the cost, just like antiretrovirals used against HIV / AIDS. For example, the production cost for 12 weeks of generic Sofosbuvir would actually cost 50 to 100 euros ”recalls Médecins du Monde (MDM). “Allowing universal access to these generics of DAA at affordable prices would help eradicate hepatitis C globally.”
Discovered in 1989, hepatitis Chas taken on the appearance of an epidemic over the past two decades. In mainland France, 400,000 to 500,000 people are said to be suffering from chronic hepatitis C, of which 30,000 are co-infected with HIV. And, the number of chronic carriers of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is estimated between 130 and 170 million, or 3% of the world’s population.
